King Kong Appears in Edo (1938 film)
King Kong Appears in Edo is a lost 1938 tokusatsu film produced by Zenshō Cinema. It was released to Japanese theaters on March 18, 1938. Plot Part 1 In the first part, titled King Kong Appears in Edo: The Episode of Transformation , Chinami, a daughter of Hyoue Toba, is mysteriously kidnapped one night. Toba offers a 3,000 Ryō reward for his daughter. (Note: Ryō is one of currency units used by Tokugawa shogunate, roughly equivalent to 330 US dollars.) Yuzuru Kawasaki and other spongers set about searching for Chinami. But Magonojyō Gō, one of Toba’s spongers, sneers at his fellows’ efforts. In fact, Gō is the very man who kidnapped Chinami. He made his father Senbei’s pet ape abduct her. Part 2 The second part, titled King Kong Appears in Edo: The Episode of Gold has complex circumstances behind it. Toba influences Senbei to counterfeit coins, but he refuses. Toba imprisons Senbei somewhere. To get a clue of his father’s whereabouts, Gō disguises himself as one of Toba’s spongers. Gō menaces Toba with the ape covertly. He offers Toba Chinami's location in exchange for the prize money. He takes Toba to his secret cellar to shut him up. The vengeful ape kills Toba but he, too, is fatally wounded. Gō then leaves Edo with 3,000 Ryō. What happened to Chinami after that is unknown, but it is assumed she was freed when Magonojyō received his money from Hyoue. History King Kong Appears in Edo was one of Japan's first films, predating Godzilla by sixteen years. Although inaccurate to its historical setting, some Caligari-esque expressionistic buildings were added for Kong to climb. The film is now completely lost after the fire bombings on Japan and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Fuminori Ohashi, who would later create the suit for Godzilla in the original 1954 film, created the ape suit and special effects for this film. During an interview in 1988 shortly before his death in 1989, he explained, "The first model making to be counted as 'special art direction' in Japanese cinema was a giant gorilla which I did for the movie King Kong Appears in Edo fifty years ago. It was also the first movie to feature certain kinds of special effects." Staff Cast Appearances Monsters *King Kong Gallery Soundtrack Alternate Titles *''King Kong (Kingu Kongu; Japan)'' Trivia *There is a video on YouTube that claims to be the lost footage of King Kong Appears in Edo. The video turned out to be fake due to its high quality for a 1938 film, and the most obvious fact, that the user used footage from a movie named Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century. The video also used footage of a Japanese man with a gun, while the film was supposed to be set in medieval Japan as well as the use of tiger roars that were actually recorded in the middle of the 20th century. References *Japanese Movie Database *wikipedia:ja:江戸に現れたキングコング Category:King Kong Category:Films Category:Kaiju films Category:Showa era: Kaiju Category:Black-and-white films Category:Showa series Category:Japanese films Category:1930s films Category:Lost Films Category:Lost films